Afreximbank has supplied an $81.9 million loan to Veenocks Limited to increase its porcelain tile manufacturing plant in Sagamu, Ogun State, in a venture anticipated to improve annual manufacturing capability threefold.
The African Export-Import Bank disclosed the financing in a press release on its web site on Monday, November 2.
The expansion is estimated to price $145 million and is predicted to elevate the factory’s annual output from 3.3 million to 9.9 million sq. metres.
It can be projected to create 300 further direct jobs.
Afreximbank provides $81.9 million loan for tile factory
The financing follows an earlier settlement between the financial institution and Veenocks in August 2024, when Afreximbank supplied a $2 million Project Preparation Facility (PPF) to fund research required to assess the venture’s viability.
The research coated technical, industrial, monetary, authorized, environmental and social concerns. The financial institution stated the findings helped set up the venture’s bankability and knowledgeable its resolution to present the senior time period loan.
- “African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has supported the development and expansion of Veenocks Limited’s porcelain tile manufacturing plant in Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria, through its Project Preparation Facility (PPF) and a US$81.9 million senior term loan. The project has a total estimated cost of US$145 million,” the assertion learn partly.
Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, stated the preparation work helped Veenocks develop its plans past the Nigerian market.
- “The studies financed through Afreximbank’s Project Preparation Facility have helped strengthen the project’s bankability and broaden the company’s regional growth ambitions. Our senior debt financing supports the plant expansion needed to convert those ambitions into increased productive capacity, and stronger foundations for intra-African trade,” she stated.
The financial institution stated the $2 million preparation facility had been totally repaid from the senior debt financing, making the funds accessible for different initiatives.
The new loan is meant to finance the factory expansion and supply further capability to serve home demand and markets elsewhere in Africa.
Veenocks targets African markets with factory expansion
Veenocks plans to use the expanded manufacturing capability to pursue gross sales in eight African nations: Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cameroon, Ghana, Mauritania and Senegal. The proposed markets type a part of the corporate’s medium-term development plans past Nigeria, in accordance to Afreximbank.
- Veenocks presently operates a porcelain tile manufacturing plant in Sagamu, Ogun State, producing wall and flooring tiles for residential and industrial initiatives. The firm is a member of R28 Holdings Limited, a diversified non-public funding holding firm, and manufactures its merchandise beneath the Veramis Porcelain Tiles model.
- The factory’s merchandise are examined in accordance with the ISO 10545 sequence of worldwide requirements, with reported water absorption of 0.3% or much less, beneath the 0.5% threshold specified for porcelain tiles beneath ISO 13006.
- The current facility employs greater than 200 folks straight, whereas the expansion is predicted to create one other 300 direct jobs. Afreximbank stated the venture would additionally generate oblique employment alternatives throughout uncooked materials provide, logistics and distribution.
Adebisi Abidemi Adebutu, Group President of R28 Holdings, stated the expansion would improve the corporate’s use of domestically sourced uncooked supplies and scale back Nigeria’s dependence on imported tiles.
Local tile makers acquire floor in Nigeria
The expansion comes as Nigerian producers search to improve home manufacturing of constructing supplies. In April 2023, Nairametrics reported that local tile manufacturers had gained ground following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s restriction on access to foreign exchange for importing 41 items, together with vitrified and ceramic tiles.
The Federal Government has also announced plans to establish building materials manufacturing hubs across the country’s six geopolitical zones. The initiative, introduced in August 2024, recognized Sagamu as one of many proposed areas, with the hubs anticipated to produce tiles, roofing sheets, ceilings and doorways.
